Comarques of Catalonia

This is a list of the 42 comarques (singular comarca, Catalan pronunciation: [kuˈmaɾkə]) into which Catalonia is divided. A comarca is a group of municipalities, roughly equivalent to a "county" in the U.S.A. or the U.K. However, in the context of Catalonia, the term "county" can be a bit misleading, because in medieval Catalonia, aside from the kings of Aragon, the most important rulers were counts, notably the Counts of Barcelona and of Urgell. Comarques have no particular relation to the "counties" that were ruled by counts.

Present-day division of Catalonia in comarques

Overview

Although today the comarques are officially recognized, for centuries they had existed unofficially, with citizens identifying with a particular comarca in the same way that people in other parts of the world might identify with a particular region.

In some cases, comarques consist of rural areas and many small villages centering on an important town, where the people of the region traditionally go to shop or to sell their goods. This is the case of comarques such as the Pla d'Estany, centered on the town of Banyoles, or the Ripollès, centered on the town of Ripoll. In other cases, comarques are larger areas with many important population centers that have traditionally been considered part of the same region, as in the case of the Empordà or Vallès.

The current official division of Catalonia into comarques originates in an order of the semi-autonomous Catalan government under the Spanish Republic in 1936. It was superseded after the 1939 victory of Francisco Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War, but restored in 1987 by the re-established Generalitat of Catalonia. Since the definition of comarques is traditionally a non-official and sometimes ambiguous, many new proposals have been made since the comarques were first officially designated as different towns attempt to adjust the official comarques with what they consider to be their traditional comarca. As a result, some revisions to the official division have been made periodically.

The comarca exists as a local government area, and has a representative comarcal council.

Borders of comarques generally do not cross those of provinces (Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona), but there are several exceptions, since the provinces are defined by the Spanish government, while comarques are defined by the Catalan government - notably in the case of Cerdanya which is split into two between the provinces of Lleida and Girona (most other cases involve only one or two municipalities).

Aran, which is included here, is officially not a comarca but a "unique territorial entity" with additional powers, but unofficially it is generally referred to as a comarca. Its current status was formalised in February 2015.[1]

List of comarques

Comarca	Date created	Capital	Number of municipalities	Population (2014)[2]	Area (km²)[2]	Density	Province(s)
Alt Camp	1987	Valls	23	44,578	538.2	82.8	Tarragona
Alt Empordà	1987	Figueres	68	140,214	1,357.4	103.3	Girona
Alt Penedès	1987	Vilafranca del Penedès	27	106,262	592.7	179.3	Barcelona
Alt Urgell	1987	La Seu d'Urgell	19	20,878	1,447.5	14.4	Lleida
Alta Ribagorça	1988	El Pont de Suert	3	3,873	426.8	9.1	Lleida
Anoia	1987	Igualada	33	117,842	866.3	136.0	Barcelona
Aran	1987	Vielha e Mijaran	9	9,993	633.5	15.8	Lleida
Bages	1987	Manresa	30	175,527[3]	1,092.2[3]	160.7	Barcelona
Baix Camp	1987	Reus	28	190,249	697.3	272.8	Tarragona
Baix Ebre	1987	Tortosa	14	80,637	1002.6	80.4	Tarragona
Baix Empordà	1987	La Bisbal d'Empordà	36	132,886	701.8	189.4	Girona
Baix Llobregat	1987	Sant Feliu de Llobregat	30	806,249	486.2	1,658.3	Barcelona
Baix Penedès	1987	El Vendrell	14	100,262	296.4	338.3	Tarragona
Barcelonès	1987	Barcelona	5	2,227,238	145.8	15,276.0	Barcelona
Berguedà	1987	Berga	31	40,039	1,185.3	33.8	Barcelona, Lleida
Cerdanya	1987	Puigcerdà	17	18,063	546.6	33.0	Girona, Lleida
Conca de Barberà	1987	Montblanc	22	20,723	650.2	31.9	Tarragona
Garraf	1987	Vilanova i la Geltrú	6	145,886	185.1	788.1	Barcelona
Garrigues	1987	Les Borges Blanques	24	19,762	797.7	24.8	Lleida
Garrotxa	1987	Olot	21	56,036	734.5	76.3	Girona
Gironès	1987	Girona	28	185,085	575.6	321.6	Girona
Maresme	1987	Mataró	30	437,919	398.6	1,098.6	Barcelona
Moianès	2015	Moià	10	13,056	337.9	38.6	Barcelona
Montsià	1987	Amposta	12	69,613	735.5	94.6	Tarragona
Noguera	1987	Balaguer	30	39,376	1,784.1	22.1	Lleida
Osona	1987	Vic	50	154,559[3]	1,245.1[3]	124.1	Barcelona, Girona
Pallars Jussà	1987	Tremp	14	13,530	1,343.2	10.1	Lleida
Pallars Sobirà	1987	Sort	15	7,220	1,378.0	5.2	Lleida
Pla de l'Estany	1988	Banyoles	11	31,554	262.8	120.1	Girona
Pla d'Urgell	1988	Mollerussa	16	37,128	305.2	121.7	Lleida
Priorat	1987	Falset	23	9,550	498.7	19.1	Tarragona
Ribera d'Ebre	1987	Móra d'Ebre	14	22,925	827.1	27.7	Tarragona
Ripollès	1987	Ripoll	19	25,700	956.6	26.9	Girona
Segarra	1987	Cervera	21	22,713	722.8	31.4	Lleida
Segrià	1987	Lleida	38	209,768	1,396.4	150.2	Lleida
Selva	1987	Santa Coloma de Farners	26	170,249	994.9	171.1	Girona, Barcelona
Solsonès	1987	Solsona	15	13,497	1001.1	13.5	Lleida
Tarragonès	1987	Tarragona	22	250,306	319.2	784.2	Tarragona
Terra Alta	1987	Gandesa	12	12,119	743.0	16.3	Tarragona
Urgell	1987	Tàrrega	20	36,526	579.6	63.0	Lleida
Vallès Occidental	1987	Sabadell, Terrassa	23	899,532	583.1	1,542.7	Barcelona
Vallès Oriental	1987	Granollers	39	399,781[3]	734.5[3]	544.3	Barcelona
• Total: 42			948	7,518,903	32,108.0[4][5]	234.2

Comarcal revisions

Comarcal revisions have taken place in 1988 (creation of Pla d'Estany, Pla d'Urgell, and Alta Ribagorça),[6] 1990 (various adjustments),[7] and May 2015 (creation of Moianès).[8] The Catalan government's "Report on the revision of Catalonia's territorial organisation model" (the Roca Report), published in 2000, recommends many more changes to comarques, which have not yet been adopted except for the 2015 creation of Moianès.[9] The other proposed new comarcas are: Vall de Camprodon (capital at Camprodon), Selva Marítima (capital at Blanes), Alta Segarra (capital at Calaf), Segre Mitjà (capital at Ponts), and Baix Llobregat Nord (capital at Martorell).

In a non-binding referendum in July 2015, a majority of municipalities of the Lluçanès region of Osona voted to join a proposed new comarca of that name. The partial approval was seen as insufficient and the plan had not been put to parliament by the end of 2015.[10]

Date	From comarca	To comarca	Municipalities
1988	Gironès	Pla de l'Estany	Banyoles, Camós, Cornellà del Terri, Crespià, Esponellà, Fontcoberta, Palol de Revardit, Porqueres, Sant Miquel de Campmajor, Serinyà, Vilademuls
1988	Urgell	Pla d'Urgell	Barbens, Castellnou de Seana, Ivars d'Urgell, Vilanova de Bellpuig, Vila-sana
1988	Segrià	Pla d'Urgell	Bell-lloc d'Urgell, Fondarella, Golmés, Miralcamp, Mollerussa, El Palau d'Anglesola, Sidamon
1988	Noguera	Pla d'Urgell	Bellvís, Linyola, El Poal
1988	Garrigues	Pla d'Urgell	Torregrossa
1988	Pallars Jussà	Alta Ribagorça	Barruera (La Vall de Boí), El Pont de Suert, Vilaller
1990	Noguera	Segrià	Alfarràs, La Portella
1990	Priorat	Baix Camp	Arbolí
1990	Tarragonès	Baix Penedès	Bonastre
1990	Vallès Occidental	Vallès Oriental	Caldes de Montbui
1990	Garraf	Alt Penedès	Castellet i la Gornal, Olesa de Bonesvalls
1990	Barcelonès	Baix Llobregat	Esplugues de Llobregat, Sant Just Desvern
1990	Tarragonès	Alt Camp	Els Garidells
1990	Alt Camp	Baix Penedès	Masllorenç
1990	Anoia	Solsonès	La Molsosa
1990	Ripollès	Osona	Montesquiu, Santa Maria de Besora, Sant Quirze de Besora, Vidrà
1990	Urgell	Segarra	Montornès de Segarra
1990	Baix Ebre	Montsià	Sant Jaume d'Enveja
1990	Segarra	Conca de Barberà	Vallfogona de Riucorb
1994	-	Vallès Occidental	Badia del Vallès
2015	Bages	Moianès	Calders, L'Estany, Moià, Monistrol de Calders, Santa Maria d'Oló
2015	Vallès Oriental	Moianès	Castellcir, Castellterçol, Granera, Sant Quirze Safaja
2015	Osona	Moianès	Collsuspina
2015	-	Gironès	Medinyà
2017	Gironès	-	Medinyà

Historical comarques

There are some other comarques which are often referred as historical comarques of Catalonia, because their present territory was part of the former Principality of Catalonia, but they are now in Northern Catalonia, part of France.

Comarca	Capital
Rosselló (Roussillon)	Perpinyà (Perpignan)
Alta Cerdanya	Font-romeu (Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via)
Capcir	Els Angles (Les Angles)
Vallespir	Ceret (Céret)
Conflent	Prada de Conflent (Prades)

See also

• Comarcas of Spain
• Vegueria - proposed structure for grouping comarcas
• Municipalities of Catalonia
• Provinces of Spain

References

1. "LLEI 1/2015, del 5 de febrer, del règim especial d'Aran" (PDF) (in Catalan). Generalitat of Catalonia. 2015-02-13. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
2. "El municipi en xifres". Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
3. Adjusted following creation of Moianès
4. "Indicadors geogràfics. Superfície, densitat i entitats de població: Catalunya". Statistical Institute of Catalonia. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
5. The total of the figures above is 32,107.1. The difference may be due to rounding.
6. "Llei 5/1988, de 28 de març, de creació de les comarques del Pla de l'Estany, del Pla d'Urgell i de l'Alta Ribagorça" (in Catalan). Generalitat de Catalunya. 1988-03-28. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
7. "Llei 3/1990, de 8 de gener, de modificació de la divisió comarcal de Catalunya" (in Catalan). Generalitat de Catalunya. 2015-05-25. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
8. "El Parlament aprova la llei de creació del Moianès amb els vots en contra de Ciutadans i l'abstenció del PP". La Vanguardia (in Catalan). 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
9. Miquel Roca i Junyent; et al. (December 2000). "Informe sobre la revisió del Model d'organització territorial de Catalunya" (PDF) (in Catalan). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-29.
10. "El Lluçanès serà la comarca número 43 de Catalunya: el 'sí' guanya en vuit dels 13 municipis". Ara. 2015-07-26. Retrieved 2015-07-27.

External links

• (in Catalan) The Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya is an excellent source of statistical information for Catalonia, down to the level of individual municipalities. It is also our source for which municipalities are in which comarca. Parts of the site are in English and Spanish, although most of it is in Catalan.
• (in Catalan) History of present comarcal division. Catalonia, La Franja and Northern Catalonia.